sylvie, you really are an inspiration! Congrats on everything you have done this year! Getting through the holidays without any slips is pretty amazing!
midwestchick, consider planks instead of crunches. Evidently, crunches are no longer believed to strengthen the abdominals in the way once thought (?).
I pulled this up on google:
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/a...1/qt/plank.htm
Perhaps someone here can give a better suggestion for a link.